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Optimum position of asterixes on web forms

for

From: Gareth Dart
Date: Oct 9, 2008 9:10AM

Hello all,

Not so much an accessibility issue per-se but an important usability
issue.

Users without significant visual impairment derive a useful visual cue
from the inclusion of an asterix next to required fields on a form. We
currently have a minor interdepartmental ding-dong going about exactly
where this asterix should be placed.

I have always put this to the right of the field control - and have been
doing this for so long I've ceased (until now) to question this
placement. Another colleague (from a print background) has suggested
that it should be placed to the left of the label, citing user's
left-to-right reading habits as a rationale - the users see the asterix
right off and therefore knows the field is mandatory. Yet another
person has suggested to the right of the label, between the label and
the field control (the form is styled to float labels next to their
associated form controls).

A google search suggests there seems to be no consensus view. Does
anyone have any thoughts>

Cheers,

G


Gareth Dart
Web Developer
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
95 Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1HZ
T 01242 211128 F 01242 211122 W www.hesa.ac.uk
<http://www.hesa.ac.uk/>;